ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

Yolande Moreau and Ulrich Tukur in Seraphine (Music Box Films, 2009)

SERAPHINE Louis has gained a posthumous reputation as one of the best painters in the Modern Primitive school. Her work is reminiscent of Van Gogh, and is marked by vibrant colours and intricate patterns. Her life was no less intense and forms the basis of Seraphine, a handsome period drama with an award-winning performance from Yolande Moreau that simply melts your heart.

The film’s starting point is Senlis in 1914. Seraphine is a hard-working cleaner, washerwoman and domestic who strides around the area in her familiar straw hat and sturdy boots. Her wide-eyed stares and secretive nature deter even the friendliest native.

Then, she goes to work for influential German art critic and dealer Wilhelm Uhde (Ulrich Tukur). He is astonished to discover that one of the paintings he most admires is by her. He encourages Seraphine to devote more time to her painting and promises to arrange an exhibition even as World War One is about to shatter their new friendship.

Seraphine is directed by Martin Provost with the eye of a painter. Scenes of the French countryside and snow-dusted cobbled streets have a simple beauty. The film also presents us with some of Seraphine’s most famous works but does not shy away from the turbulence of her life. This is a woman who walked a fine line between sanity and the threat of madness and who ended her days in an asylum.

The film is both informative and touching as it makes you want to discover more about one of the neglected figures of 20th century art. There have been fresh exhibitions of her work in Paris and two new books on her life.

Yolande Moreau offers a superb interpretation of a woman who spent years assuming that nobody would take her seriously; wary, resentful and easily hurt, she captures the raw vulnerability of the woman and deserves the many prizes that have come her way.

Director: Martin Provost
Cast: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Genevieve Mnich, Nico Rogner
Screenwriters: Martin Provost, Marc Abdelnour
Certificate: PG
Running time: 126 mins
Country: France/Belgium
Year: 2008

© Allan Hunter, 2009

Links

• Website